During the past few years there has been a renaissance in export of British horses to North America. The most recent recruited to the American tracks is I Shot the Sheriff, a three year old from the first crop of Coalford Stud’s new stallion Henry Hill (US) and the seventh foal out of Jon Harvey’s mare Come Closer (US).
I Shot The Sheriff made his racing debut in June this year. It’s been a short but successful season, winning 5 of his 9 starts. He won his first start, the SHRC 3yo Derby at Haugh Field (2 June). He was subsequently unplaced in the York 3yo Championship, but regained his form to win at Appleby (2 Jul). This set him on a winning streak as he followed his Appleby win up by winning the STAGBI 3 year old British Championship Colts & Gelding at York and taking his record of 1.59.3 Click to view video. It was then back to Haugh Field to win the LPD 3yo Conditioned Pace before heading down to Tir Prince for the 3yo VDM. He won his heat but narrowly beaten in the final in a BT of 1.59.1. His GB racing career concluded with a third in the Breeders Crown heat but unplaced in the final. He leaves for America with GB earnings of £10,125 and we wish him the best of pacing luck and a successful winning career in North America.
It is obviously a delight to see that our British breds are worthy of being exported and those that have left in the past few years have been successfully campaigned in North America with some lucrative earnings to their name. It is a huge positive to the owners and breeders, as it is undoubtedly an opportunity for owners to benefit directly by getting a higher selling price and for breeders to improve potential sale prices of subsequent offspring. However, as usual for every positive there is a negative, and the downside in this situation is that the export of these horses means we are losing horses from an already depleted number. There are several factors as to why we have a depleted pool of racehorses and they included the fact that 1. Less horses are being bred and 2. More horses are being exported, and significantly the horses that are exported are actual racehorses. As a result there is a significant risk that, in the not too distant future we will have an inadequate numbers of racehorses.
This is an area of concern and after some considerable consideration and discussing with other countries faced with the same scenario, as of 1st Sept 2023, STAGBI have increased the Export Fees. The money generated from the increased fees will all be ring-fenced and will be reinvested in the GB racing with the view to improve purses for aged horses. Further details will following in due course and ahead of the 2024 racing season. All STAGBI Fees can be viewed on the STAGBI Website (and please remember if you are exporting a horse, you need to apply to STAGBI for the export certificate BEFORE the horse leaves the country. For further information on exporting horses please go to STAGBI website (link) or contact STAGBI office.
